102 HALL OF FAME MEN. 



father in class A. In this case the grandfather's wife (who was 

 born in class D) was older than her husband, so that if the Rev. 

 Timothy Edwards were reckoned from his mother, instead of from 

 his father, he would be in class b. 



ASA GRAY. 



In the case of Asa Gray, the class a person is his mother, who 

 was a daughter of Joseph Howard, born April 3, 1767. Thomas, 

 the great-grandfather of Joseph, came to America in 1634. If 

 we assume that he was only two years old when he came, then 

 we would have three successive steps of 45 years, or three suc- 

 cessive classes A, before the class a of Gray's mother. On the 

 male side of the house we have Asa's father born in class B and 

 his grandfather born in class A. 



ELI WHITNEY. 



In the case of Eli Whitney we find that it was the great-grand- 

 father who was young when his son was born. Unfortunately I 

 have not been able to locate a further generation, neither have I 

 been able to obtain the records for the female branch, so that on 

 the face of the returns Whitney ranks low. 



We thus see that in no case is there a class a connected in suc- 

 cession with another class of low rank, except in the case of Asa 

 Gray and his mother. Even in this case we have, against one 

 person in class a and one in class b, four persons in class A and 

 one in class B. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



On the other hand, we have successive classes A in several 

 cases, as in Audubon, Franklin, Irving and Gray. Of these Ben- 

 jamin Franklin undoubtedly possessed the finest intellect ever 

 produced on the American continent. Without the advantages of 



